Agriculture: Ring Rot

Baroness Byford: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What representations they have made to the Dutch Government following the outbreak of ring rot in 2005 in Wales on the farm of John Morgan, owner of Morgrow Seed Potatoes.

Lord Rooker: There has been frequent communication with the Dutch Government since the ring rot outbreak in Wales in 2003 and in relation to subsequent outbreaks in 2004. The purpose has been to request and provide information in relation to the outbreaks, such as to trace the stocks and premises involved and concerning progress with the respective investigations. There has also been correspondence on associated matters, such as the lessons learnt review and new statutory notification requirements for Dutch potatoes.

Asylum Seekers: Removal

Lord Hylton: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What plans they have to improve the monitoring of the removal of failed asylum applicants and others with no right of residence.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: We do not routinely monitor the return of individual failed asylum seekers and others who are removed from the UK. The asylum decision-making and independent appeals processes exist to ensure that those who are at risk of persecution or breach of their human rights in their country of origin will not be removed there. However, if specific allegations are made that any returnee has experienced ill-treatment on return from the UK, these will be followed up through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office as a matter of urgency.

Birds

Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether the requirement for quarantine checks on wild-caught exotic birds imported into the United Kingdom has changed over the past year.

Lord Rooker: The import of captive wild birds into the EU from third countries has been banned on a temporary basis since October 2005 in response to avian influenza. The ban will continue until 31 May 2006, and is currently being reviewed by the EU Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health.
	Commission decision 2000/666/EC lays down the animal health requirements and the veterinary certification needed for the import of captive wild birds, including the conditions for quarantine. The Commission has asked the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to review the animal health and welfare aspects of these imports. A report is due in October 2006 and will inform future EU policy.
	In addition, the Secretary of State for Defra announced an independent review of domestic avian quarantine arrangements for captive birds on 26 October 2005. A report published on 15 December set out 32 recommended changes to the existing quarantine regime to ensure that it is as secure as possible in the light of the evolving avian flu disease situation.
	The Government and the devolved Administrations published their response to this report on 19 April. This is available on the Defra website at www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/diseases/control/avianquarantine/gov-strategy/index.htm.

Birds

Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether they have assessed the contribution which the requirement to test wild-caught exotic birds in their country of origin for diseases such as Newcastle disease and H5N1 will make to safeguarding United Kingdom biosecurity; and what progress they have made in establishing such a requirement.

Lord Rooker: Commission decision 2000/666/EC lays down rules for the import of captive birds into the EU from third countries. In addition, the recent independent review of UK avian quarantine included recommendations to revisit the pre-export conditions for imports of captive wild birds. The Government and the devolved Administrations have accepted that these are desirable and raised them with the European Commission.
	However, in each case, we are mindful of the varying abilities of different exporting countries to provide satisfactory assurances. In particular, pre-export testing could give false security unless sampling is carried out effectively.
	The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has been asked by the European Commission to carry out a review of the animal health and welfare aspects of imports of captive wild birds and this is due to report in October 2006. We expect that pre-export conditions will be examined as part of this review.

Census 2011: Ethnicity

Lord Laird: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What ethnicity options will be offered on the census forms being considered for 2011.

Lord McKenzie of Luton: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
	Letter to Lord Laird from the National Statistician, dated May 2006.
	As National Statistician and Registrar General, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what ethnicity options will be offered on the census forms being considered for the 2011 census (HL5649).
	It is not possible to confirm what questions are to be included in the 2011 census until the consultation and testing programme is complete and formal approval is given by Parliament in 2010. A White Paper setting out the Government's proposals is scheduled to be published in autumn 2008.
	A clear requirement for information on ethnicity and national identity has been identified from the consultation exercise undertaken last year and reported on in The 2011 Census: Assessment of initial user requirements on content for England and Wales, which was published on 8 March 2006. The report can be found on the National Statistics website at www.statistics.gov.uk/about/consultations/2011Census–response.asp.
	The programme of question development and testing underway for the 2011 census will also inform the content of the 2007 census test, which will include questions to collect information on ethnic group and national identity. The questionnaires to be used in the 2007 test will be finalised in September 2006, but question development and testing will continue until 2009.

Children: Health

Earl Howe: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What number and percentage of children in England and Wales are (a) overweight, and (b) obese; what are the targets for halting the rise in childhood obesity; and whether progress made to date in achieving those targets is satisfactory.

Lord Warner: Estimates of overweight and obesity prevalence among children in England is given in the following table. Information relating to Wales is a matter for the Welsh Assembly.
	
		Overweight and obesity prevalence among children aged 2-15 -- by sex England, 2004
		
			  Percentages 
			 Boys  
			 Overweight 13.9 
			 Obese 19.2 
			 Overweight including obese 33.0 
			 Girls  
			 Overweight 16.6 
			 Obese 18.5 
			 Overweight including obese 35.1 
			 Bases (weighted)  
			 Boys 8,833 
			 Girls 8,228 
		
	
	Source: Health Survey for England 2004
	In July 2004, a public service agreement (PSA) target was set to halt the year-on-year rise in obesity among children under 11 by 2010 in the context of a broader strategy to tackle obesity in the population as a whole. Progress of the PSA on childhood obesity will be monitored through the Health Survey for England.

Cuba: Cigars

Lord Patten: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether the present arrangements for the import of Cuban cigars into the United Kingdom are in the interests of the consumer; and whether they will refer the issue to the competition authorities.

Lord Sainsbury of Turville: The UK competition framework has established the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) as an independent statutory body because the Government wanted to take the politics out of competition decisions allowing expert, independent competition bodies to take decisions on mergers and markets. Competition in the cigar and tobacco product sectors is therefore a matter for the OFT.

Department of Health: Shredding of Documents

Lord Morris of Manchester: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What is the administrative procedure for authorising the shredding of documents within the Department of Health that have been stored or archived; what grade of official can make an order for the shredding of documents that have been stored or archived; and what action senior officials take if the administrative procedure for authorising the shredding of documents that have been stored or archived has been breached.

Lord Warner: The Department of Health is obliged under the Public Records Act 1958 to identify records needing long-term retention, while destroying most records as soon as their administrative value ends. Administrative decisions on the retention or destruction of records are routinely made between two and five years after the date of the last paper on the file.
	Records marked for destruction are held in the file store until the marked destruction date, then batched into consignments, marked as destroyed on the file store database, and despatched for secure destruction. The department receives a certificate of destruction for each batch destroyed.
	Current guidance states that decisions on retention or destruction should be made by,
	"whoever has best knowledge of the subject matter. The reviewer should be in Payband IP2 (Executive Officer Grade) or above".
	Departmental policy on records management also states that,
	"Line managers are responsible for ensuring that record keeping within their areas is consistent and meets Departmental standards".
	Senior officials would become aware that the procedures had been breached if poor practice were revealed by an audit, or if a request for records could not be satisfied because records had been inappropriately destroyed.
	Any action taken would depend on the specific circumstances of the breach.

Disarmament

Lord Jopling: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Triesman on 4 May (WA 97), whether they will now indicate what are the issues on which a consensus agreement has not been reached, thus holding up progress on United Nations disarmament agreements in Geneva; and which countries have blocked agreement to each of the issues.

Lord Triesman: The Conference on Disarmament (CD) in Geneva has been unable to reach consensus on a programme of work since 1997. The issues on the agenda are: nuclear disarmament; a fissile material cut-off treaty (FMCT); prevention of an arms race in outer space; new types of weapons of mass destruction and radiological weapons; negative security assurances; and a comprehensive programme on disarmament and transparency in armaments.
	No individual country is responsible for blocking progress in the CD on any particular agenda item. Rather, many countries continue to view the agenda as a package and link progress on one issue to that of another. This has led to the unwelcome lack of consensus agreement on any of the agenda items. The UK believes the CD should move away from the package approach and deal with individual issues that are ripe for negotiation. That is why we continue to call for the immediate commencement of negotiations on an FMCT and look forward to discussions on this agenda item in the CD later this month.

Endangered Species: Hippos

Lord Jones of Cheltenham: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What assessment has been made by the international bodies responsible of the possible addition of the hippopotamus to the list of endangered species.

Lord Rooker: Her Majesty's Government were not involved in the assessment on the conservation status of common hippos, which resulted in their being added to the IUCN (World Conservation Union) Red List of Endangered Species.
	The IUCN publishes a full analysis of the data held on their Red List every three to four years, using their own categories and criteria for classifying species at risk.
	We understand that the common hippo was added to the 2006 Red List, following a population and status assessment undertaken by the Hippo Subgroup—a specialist group of the Pigs, Peccaries and Hippos Species Survival Commission (SSC), one of many SSCs established by the IUCN.
	Common hippos are considered by the IUCN to be threatened by human settlements and agricultural development, both of which have compromised much of the wetland habitats on which hippos rely. Poaching for meat and ivory has also contributed to reductions in common hippo populations.

Energy: Carbon Emissions

Lord Vinson: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Why the Carbon Trust, in undertaking its remit to advance a low carbon economy, does not promote nuclear power; and
	Whether the Carbon Trust's goal of a low carbon economy can be achieved without assessing the benefits of nuclear power.

Lord Rooker: The Carbon Trust is a private company, grant-funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Department of Trade and Industry and the devolved Administrations to take the lead on energy efficiency advice for the business and public sectors and to provide support for the development of low carbon technologies in the UK.
	The Carbon Trust has made it clear that nuclear power is one of a number of technologies with the potential to help build a low carbon economy. As with other energy technologies, the benefits of nuclear power need to be considered against issues of cost, environmental impact, security, safety and public acceptance. Nuclear power should compete for its place in a low carbon economy against other forms of power generation.
	The trust welcomes the current review of energy policy, which is analysing the costs of different options, including nuclear energy, for meeting the Government's long-term targets for reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

Export Control Act 2002

Baroness Tonge: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What assessment has been made of the success or otherwise of the measures to control arms sales brought in by the Export Control Act 2002.

Lord Sainsbury of Turville: The Government will be carrying out a review of the controls implemented under the Export Control Act 2002 three years after the date they came into force; that is, in 2007.

Foot and Mouth Disease

Baroness Byford: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	In relation to Article 7(c) of the Foot-and-Mouth Disease (Control of Vaccination) (England) Regulations 2006, what work has been done to check use-before dates recommended by manufacturers; and how those dates will be monitored in the future.

Lord Rooker: The Diseases of Animals (Approved Disinfectants) Order 1978, which is referred to in the legislation quoted above, provides for veterinary disinfectants to be laboratory tested before being approved by Defra and, at any time, to test a sample of an approved disinfectant in respect of its continued efficacy.
	Local authority trading standards departments look for use-before dates on products at the point of sale to check that they are valid. Use-before dates, which should be based on the date of manufacture, are generally designed to validate products for a specific time period to ensure effectiveness. In respect of testing efficacy, Defra undertakes routine "check-test" exercises of approved veterinary disinfectants. The products purchased for efficacy testing are the same as those available to users of approved veterinary disinfectants as they are bought from standard retail outlets. Defra proposes to continue this monitoring programme.

Immigration: Detention Centres

Lord Hylton: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	In what ways they seek to improve the conditions under which immigration detainees are held; and who is directly responsible for this matter.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: The operations directorate within the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) has responsibility for the conditions within immigration removal centres; within this directorate, detention services is directly responsible for any improvement in these conditions and the development of standards within immigration removal centres. A key improvement relating to the care of detainees within centres is the focus upon the length of stay. There has been a restructuring of IND services within centres to reduce this to a minimum. This has taken the form of the development of contact teams led by a team leader who is also responsible for monitoring the proper delivery of the contract with the private sector contractors, and the service delivery within the HMP-run centres (Dover, Haslar and Lindholme). The team leaders facilitate a contact-based service providing detainees with up-to-date information from the casework teams dealing with ports, and other authorities, which hold details of individual cases. Detention services gives continual attention to the regimes within centres; regimes generally consist of education provision, activities (sports, games, and work from outside groups) religious affairs and ancillary care such as medical facilities and catering arrangements.
	A regimes forum was set up following a recommendation from Stephen Shaw's report into the fire at Yarl's Wood immigration removal centre. The forum was chaired by the senior director of the operations directorate and attended by the director of detention services and senior detention services managers, as well as independent monitoring board members, staff from the Prison and Probation Ombudsman's Office and some representation from non-government organisations. The work of this group has led to the introduction of mobile phones, the piloting of internet use, paid work and a standardised incentives scheme. The forum also assisted with the development of the welfare function within centres, which continues to develop following a very successful pilot at Haslar removal centre.
	The work of regime development and improvement is now carried out by the regime/activity managers from each of the centres who meet regularly to continue identifying and implementing improvements in activities within centres. This meeting is chaired by the manager from detention services responsible for regime development.

Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill

Lord Lester of Herne Hill: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Bassam of Brighton on 20 March (WA 18), what are the criteria for deciding whether legislation is reforming legislation for the purpose of triggering the powers contained in Part 1 of the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill.

Lord Bassam of Brighton: Part 1 of the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill provides a power to make orders for the purposes of reforming legislation or implementing recommendations of the United Kingdom Law Commissions (Clause 1(1)). Clause 2(1) of the Bill further specifies that orders reforming legislation (or implementing Law Commission recommendations) under Clause 1 may amend, repeal or replace any legislation. "Replace" means that legislation can be repealed by an order and replaced by free-standing provision in that order.
	The order-making power in the Bill aims to address the shortcomings of the Regulatory Reform Act 2001, which was too narrowly defined to facilitate the delivery of many beneficial reforms. First and foremost, the Bill aims to operate as an effective vehicle for delivering the Government's regulatory reform agenda. It provides a flexible power to reform the law, so that worthwhile reforms are not delayed or implemented piecemeal because of arbitrary limits on order-making powers.
	However, the Government have listened carefully to views on this issue as the Bill has progressed through Parliament and have resolved explicitly to focus the order-making powers in Part 1 on better regulation objectives and Law Commission recommendations. In addition, the Government have committed to give Parliament a statutory veto on the face of the Bill in order to provide assurance that the order-making power will be used appropriately. These provisions will build upon the existing safeguards in the Bill which ensure that orders cannot be used to remove necessary protections, rights or freedoms.
	The Government have tabled amendments to this effect ahead of the Report stage of the Bill in the other place.

NHS: Genito-urinary Clinics

Baroness Tonge: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What proportion of genito-urinary clinics offer appointments within 48 hours.

Lord Warner: The most recent data from the Health Protection Agency's quarterly survey of genito-urinary (GU) waiting times for February 2006, show that 55 per cent of attendees in England were offered an appointment within 48 hours.
	As part of the Government's drive to improve sexual health, all primary care trusts are working towards the target of 100 per cent of GU attendees being seen within 48 hours by 2008. To help achieve this, sexual health and GU access have been identified as one of the top six National Health Service priorities in the NHS operating framework for 2006–07, and additional investment of £130 million over three years, was announced through the Choosing Health White Paper.

NHS: Specialised Services

Baroness Hayman: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	When they expect to receive the report of Sir David Carter's review into the commissioning of specialised services in the National Health Service; and when the report will be published.

Lord Warner: I received the report from the Review of Commissioning Arrangements for Specialised Services on 12 May 2006. This is a welcome and timely report that we will take forward in our commissioning framework guidance to be published in the summer. We plan to publish the review's report on the Department of Health website in the near future and place a copy in the Library.

Parliamentary Ombudsman

Lord Lester of Herne Hill: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Bassam of Brighton on 29 March (WA 126), on how many occasions since 1997, and in respect of which specific recommendations, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has refused or omitted to give effect to the recommendations of the Parliamentary Ombudsman.

Lord Davies of Oldham: There have been no occasions since 1997 where the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has refused or omitted to give effect to the recommendations of the Parliamentary Ombudsman. This does not include executive agencies and NDPBs sponsored by the department.

Parliamentary Ombudsman

Lord Lester of Herne Hill: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Bassam of Brighton on 29 March (WA 126), on how many occasions since 1997, and in respect of which specific recommendations, English Nature refused or omitted to give effect to the recommendations of the Parliamentary Ombudsman.

Lord Rooker: Since English Nature started to record the ombudsman's cases centrally in 2003, there have been five preliminary investigations. In none of those cases has English Nature refused or omitted to give effect to the ombudsman's recommendations.

Parliamentary Ombudsman

Lord Lester of Herne Hill: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Bassam of Brighton on 29 March (WA 126), on how many occasions since 1997, and in respect of which specific recommendations, the Forestry Commission refused or omitted to give effect to the recommendations of the Parliamentary Ombudsman.

Lord Rooker: There have been no occasions when the Forestry Commission has refused or failed to give effect to the recommendations of the Parliamentary Ombudsman following the investigation of a complaint.

Parliamentary Ombudsman

Lord Lester of Herne Hill: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Bassam of Brighton on 29 March (WA 126), on how many occasions since 1997, and in respect of which specific recommendations, the Coal Authority has refused or omitted to give effect to the recommendations of the Parliamentary Ombudsman.

Lord Sainsbury of Turville: As far as I am aware, on no occasion since 1997 has the Coal Authority refused or omitted to give effect to a recommendation from the Parliamentary Ombudsman.

Parliamentary Ombudsman

Lord Lester of Herne Hill: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Bassam of Brighton on 29 March (WA 126), on how many occasions since 1997, and in respect of which specific recommendations, the Office for National Statistics has refused or omitted to give effect to the recommendations of the Parliamentary Ombudsman.

Lord McKenzie of Luton: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
	Letter to Lord Lester of Herne Hill from the National Statistician, dated May 2006.
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking on how many occasions since 1997, and in respect of which specific recommendations, the Office for National Statistics has refused or omitted to give effect to the recommendations of the Parliamentary Ombudsman (HL5660).
	I can confirm that the Office for National Statistics has never refused or omitted to give effect to any recommendations of the Parliamentary Ombudsman.

Parliamentary Ombudsman

Lord Lester of Herne Hill: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Further to the Written Answer by the Lord McKenzie of Luton on 2 May (WA 55), where the information is held as to how many occasions since 1997 HM Treasury has refused or omitted to give effect to the recommendations of the Parliamentary Ombudsman; and how members of the public may have access to that information.

Lord McKenzie of Luton: HM Treasury is not aware of any occasion since 1997 in which it has refused or omitted to give effect to recommendations of the Parliamentary Ombudsman in relation to HM Treasury's activities. However, as stated in the Written Answer given on 2 May (WA 55) HM Treasury does not hold definitive statistics of this nature. HM Treasury cannot provide this information without first identifying and then reviewing all HM Treasury files relating to every Parliamentary Ombudsman investigation since 1997. This exercise would incur disproportionate cost.

Police: Reorganisation

Lord Hanningfield: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Further to the Written Answer by the Baroness Scotland of Asthal on 18 April (WA 202), whether they will place in the Library of the House a copy of the minutes of each meeting of the Restructuring Finance Working Group since October 2005.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: The Restructuring Finance Working Group provides continuing advice to inform the development of government policy. It met on 14 December 2005, 12 January and 10 February and 27 April. We do not routinely publish minutes from the working group.

Smoking

Lord Monson: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Further to the assurances by the Lord Warner on 20 April (Official Report, GC 564) and 24 April (Official Report, GC 57–58) that smoking will not be banned in non-enclosed public spaces in England unless Parliament so decides through the affirmative resolution procedure, whether, if the House of Lords voted against such a resolution, it would not be possible to proceed with such a ban.

Lord Warner: Clause 4 of the Health Bill sets out a power for the appropriate national authority to make regulations to designate as smoke-free any place or description of place that is not smoke-free under Clause 2 of the Bill. The parliamentary procedure for making such regulations is specified in subsection (4) of Clause 78 of the Health Bill.

Sudan: Proscribed Individuals

Lord Astor of Hever: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What steps they are taking to persuade the other member states of the European Union to freeze the assets of, and deny access to their respective countries to, those Sudanese individuals proscribed by the United Nations Security Council on 25 April.

Lord Triesman: All member states of the United Nations, including the member states of the European Union, are obliged to freeze the assets of, and deny access to their respective territories to, those individuals proscribed by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1672. This resolution was passed under chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which is legally binding on member states.

Sudan: Proscribed Individuals

Lord Astor of Hever: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	When and in what form they will report to Parliament the success or otherwise of international action to freeze the assets of, and deny travel access to, those Sudanese individuals proscribed by the United Nations Security Council on 25 April.

Lord Triesman: We have no plans to report to Parliament at this stage as we judge that it is too early to make an assessment on the success or otherwise of international action. We do, however, believe that the designation of individuals by the UN played an important part in maintaining pressure on the participants at the Abuja peace talks, helping to secure the positive outcome.

Sustainable Development

Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	How many (a) government departments, and (b) executive agencies have produced sustainable development action plans.

Lord Rooker: Fourteen government departments have now produced and published sustainable development action plans.
	Most departments have included their executive agencies in their departmental plans. Defra agencies have reported separately. Most executive agencies currently covered by their parent department are now working towards having their own plans in 2006–07.
	More information is available from the Sustainable Development Commission at www.sd-commission.org.uk/pages/150106.html.

Tallow

Viscount Astor: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether tallow is a carbon neutral renewable biofuel.

Lord Rooker: Tallow arises from animal rendering and can be used as a fuel, particularly within the rendering process itself. This reduces greenhouse gas emissions because the carbon in the tallow displaces fossil fuel and is derived from biomass eaten by the animals during life. The extent to which the biomass is carbon neutral will depend on the agricultural practices used to produce it.

Waste Disposal

Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What advice they give to (a) the commercial sector, and (b) the agricultural sector with regard to the disposal of waste plastic wrapping such as that around silage bales.

Lord Rooker: The Waste Management (England and Wales) Regulations 2006 apply controls to agricultural waste, including waste plastic wrapping, from 15 May 2006. Information about the regulations and the disposal and recovery of agricultural waste is available on the Defra website at www.defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/topics/agwaste.htm.
	The Environment Agency has produced interim guidance on the regulations as well as a guidance leaflet, Stop Tipping, Stop Burning, both of which are available from the agency's website.
	The Agricultural Waste Stakeholders' Forum, together with the Environment Agency, has established a National Recycling Directory to help farmers locate their nearest waste recovery and disposal outlet. The directory is on the following website www.wasterecycling.org.uk/stem.net/(ktdu0y55ai0v2berhfqyklnp)/index.aspx.
	Defra's business, resource, efficiency and waste (BREW) programme, is currently funding a £1 million farm plastics collection and recovery project. Recommendations from this work will inform the development of new producer responsibility regulations for the collection and recycling of non-packaging farm plastics.
	Packaging plastics are already covered by the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 2005, which place obligations on packaging producers to recover and recycle packaging waste. However, it is envisaged that any producer responsibility scheme that is introduced for farm plastics will collect both packaging and non-packaging waste plastics from farms.
	Further information about the project is available on the Defra website at www.defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/agforum/subgroups/farmplastics/index.htm.

Water: Agriculture

Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What assessment they have made of the likely impact that the water shortage in the south-east will have on local farmers.

Lord Rooker: The Environment Agency's report, Drought Prospects 2006, considered the implications of differing rainfall scenarios over the period February to April for public water supply, farmers and the environment. The Environment Agency will shortly be reporting again on the prospects for the coming summer. The published reports are available on the agency website at www.environment-agency.gov.uk.

Water: Metering

Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether they have considered a national roll-out of water metering in the light of the water shortage in the south-east.

Lord Rooker: The Government recognise that metering is an effective method of charging customers according to consumption and that, with appropriate protection for vulnerable households, it represents a generally fair means of charging. The Water Saving Group is leading on work that will look at targeted action for increasing metering in water-stressed areas. However the Government have no plans for universal compulsory metering.